Staff Reporter
HOW do you make ends meet when you are unemployed and a single mother of close to ten children?
That is the question Hilaria Ndapandula Ndeulita is wrestling with daily.
The 30-year-old resident of the Onaame village in the Ohangwena Region is unemployed and a single mother of eight children, one of them living with disabilities. Her firstborn is 14 years old and in Grade 7, while the lastborn is three months old. Her second youngest child was born with disabilities and needs a caregiver 24 hours a day.
All the children stay with her. They have different fathers who are poverty-stricken too.
How, then, does she manage to feed such a “crowd”?
She says she sells okapana (cooked meat) and otombo, a moderately alcoholic homebrew, but her profit is minimal. Occasionally, her 73-year-old grandmother and namesake, Hilaria Haiduwa, lends a helping hand by giving her a portion of the monthly social grant.
Hilaria’s situation is known by the traditional authorities and the constituency councillor. She was advised to apply for assistance at the Engela district hospital, which she did. However, no assistance has yet come her way.
Her daily struggle continues.
